Rotary and flow type rice grain sorter

ABSTRACT

A rotary and flow type grain sorter provided with a plurality of polygonal cylinders each formed by bending a corrugated perforated plate with a number of sorting openings, in which grains of uniform size is obtainable without a inclusion of crushed grains on account of said corrugated perforated plate and in which operational efficiency is greatly improved by means of cylinders which are polygonal.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,750,884 Saiake 1 1 Aug. 7, 1973 ROTARY AND FLOW TYPE RICE GRAIN 1,216,891 2/1917 Trefz 209/296 SQRTER 461,388 2/i89l- MCGill 209/256 [76] Inventor: Toshihiko Satake, 2-38, Saijyo-cho Kamo-gun, Hiroshimaken,,

Primary Exammer-R1chard A. Schacher Nlshlhon Machl Japan Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church [22] Filed: Dec. 23, 1971 Attorney-Alvin Browdy et al. [21] Appl. No.: 211,297

[30] Forelgn Application Priority Data 57] ABSTRACT May 21, 1971 Japan 46/41720 52 us. c1 209/284, 209/397, 209/74, A rotary and flow yp 8 sorter Provided with 9 P 209/86 rality of polygonal cylinders each formed by bending a [51] Int. Cl. B07b 1/22 cmmgaied Perfmated Plate with a number (if sorting [58] Field of Search 209/86, 256, 284, Openings, in which grains of uniform Size is obtainable 209 23 289, 296, 3 32 333 240 7; without a inclusion of crushed grains on account of said 222/349, 342, 343, 225 corrugated perforated plate and in which operational efficiency is greatly improved by means of cylinders [56] Reierences Cited which are p yg UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,345,226 3/1944 Weiss 209/289 10 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures l] [i U U i [l U [1 i U 22 q I! 0 B O O D O O 5 1,25 1,3 I 13 r 12 12 i 16 12 Pmm mus Hm sum 1 ur g FIG.I

flon wu HU ATTORNEYS PAIENIED A113 SHEET 2 BF 2 FIG.2

INVENTOR BY M ATTORNEYS 1 ROTARY AND FLOW TYPE RICE GRAIN SORTER This invention relates to a rice grain sorter of the rotary and flow type.

An object of this invention is to obtain rice grains of uniform grain size without inclusion of crushed rice grains by using a corrugated perforated plate instead of piano wires, so as to improve the operational efficiency of the conventional rice grain sorter using piano wires.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual or multiple type sorter, with a view to reducing production costs and enhancing the operational efficiency.

This invention has many other objects. One of the shortcomings of the conventional rice sorter is that it is highly difficult to manipulate and the higher degree of skill is necessary. According to a known device, piano wires are placed under tension in parallel with each other, and the intervals between adjacent piano wires are utilized for sifting of the grains. As the intervals between adjacent piano wires are changed at the mid portion which is not placed under tension, the efficiency of such machine cannot be exhibited fully. Moreover, the beams which support the piano wires under tension, project inwardly to the path of rotation of grains and interrupt the smooth flow of grains. It shall be noted also that drums of conventional grain sorters are cylindrical, in which grains supplied into the drums flow by their own gravity with the rotation of drums over a layer of grains and only the grains which flow down linearly over the layer are sorted when they reach the undermost position of drums.

In the drawing which shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention:

PK]. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the present sorter,

PK 2 is a section taken along line ll-ll of FlG.l.

The present device will now be explained with reference to the drawing. A polygonal cylinder 3 is formed by bending a corrugated and perforated plate 2 provided with numerous oblong holes 1 for sorting rice grains. This polygonal cylinder is open at both ends so that the one end will serve as a supply opening 4 and the other as a discharge opening 5. A plurality of such polygonal cylinders 3 are mounted axially inside a casing frame 6 removably and in parallel with each other. On top and at the intermediate position of the adjacent polygonal cylinders 3, 3, there is mounted a rotary shaft 8 which mounts in turn a plurality of wing plates 7 so that one wing plate 7 can hit two polygonal cylinders 3, 3. To the lower part of the polygonal cylinders 3, there is mounted an inclined flow plate 9. To the grooved part 10 of the flow plate 9, there is axially mounted a screw conveyor 11. A plurality of throughholes 13 provided with valves 12 are bored at fixed intervals on said grooved part 10 so that said valves can be closed and opened as desired. Said screw conveyor 11 is so designed that the cereals can be transferred towards the supply opening 4 of the polygonal cylinder 3. To the lower part of the supply opening 4, there is provided a discharge opening 14 for rejected rice, while to the lower part of the discharge opening 5 of the polygonal cylinder 3, there is mounted a partition 15 for receiving sorted grains of excellent quality discharged from said discharge opening 5. The rotary and flow type rice sorter is constructed in the above-mentioned way. In the drawing, 16 denotes a discharge opening for sorted grains of excellent quality, 17 a supply opening for the grains to be sorted, 18 a nonrotatable spindle removably inserted in a bearing 19 provided at the discharge opening 5 of the polygonal cylinder 3, 20 a boss for fixing said spindle to the casing frame 6, and 21 a rotatable shaft engageable at its tip end with a groove 22 provided towards the supply opening 4 of the polygonal cylinder 3 and permitting the cylinder 3 to rotate at a predetermined number of rotations per minute.

In the above construction of the present device, when the grains to be sorted are supplied from supply opening 17 and the rotatable shaft 21 rotated through a suitable prime mover, the polygonal cylinder 3 is set in rotation at a predetermined number of rotations per minute, since the tip end of the shaft 21 is kept in engagement with the groove 22 provided towards the supply opening 4 of the polygonal cylinder 3. Since numerous kinds of the polygonal cylinders 3 are available, if the mesh size of a polygonal cylinder is found to be unsuited, the spindle 18 is pulled out and the cylinder 3 is replaced by another cylinder 3 with the proper mesh size. The grains to be sorted are allowed to flow into the cylinder 3 through its supply opening 17. Since the cylinder 3 is kept in rotation at a predetermined number of rotations per minute, the grains are first elevated to the predetermined height and allowed to collapse fall and thus descend and slide over the oblong holes 1 at a considerable speed. Thus, the trash rice smaller than the mesh size of the holes 1 are allowed to descend through said holes 1. Since the polygonal cylinders are generally mounted axially at a certain slope, the grains are gradually transferred towards the discharge opening 5 with rotation of the polygonal cylinder 3, as they are sorted continuously. Thus, the grains are subjected in this interim to a repeated sorting operation, the grains smaller than the mesh size of the holes 1 being allowed to descend unexceptionally. With the progress of the sorting operation, the grains will be delivered to the discharge opening 5 of the polygonal cylinder 3. The grains thus delivered are sorted grains with uniform grain sizes. These grains are recovered at the opening 16 by virtue of the partition plate 15.

In connection with the foregoing description, the reject rice which is allowed to descend from the polygonal cylinder 3 is collected at the center of the inclined flow plates 9, 9 and transferred in the opposite direc-. tion to the transfer direction of the grains accommodated inside the cylinder 3, the movement of the reject grains being brought about by operation of the screw conveyor 11. If the movement of the grains caused by the screw conveyor 11 is scrutinized, it will be seen that the reject grains allowed to descend from the cylinder 3 are disposed in such a way that the grains with smaller size are concentrated towards the inlet side and the size of the grains will increase progressively towards the discharge opening 5. Therefore, according to the present device, several discharge openings 13 and discharge openings 14 for reject grains are provided so that several kinds of different grains can be recovered according to their quality.

When-the foregoing sorting operation is continued for many hours, the diameter of the reject grains may sometimes be in precise agreement: with the size of the hole 1, the reject grains being, in this case, completely retained in such holes and immobilized. When the grains are thus embedded in the holes 1 halfway, the grains allowed to slide over the holes 1 will collide against the thus embedded grains and their movement will be deviated towards the upper side or towards left or right, thus rendering the sorting operation ineffective. According to the present device, wing plates 7 of soft material are provided for rotation towards the upper side of the polygonal cylinder 3 and allowed to hit the cylinder 3 at all times, so that the embedded grains can be removed immediately.

With the above-mentioned construction and operation of the present device, it has the following features.

1. The conventional rice grain sorter enables sorting of good and bad grains. According to the present device, several kinds of grains ranging from fine grains to trashes can be sorted.

More particularly, since there is provided a rotary I polygonal cylinder 3 provided with a supply opening 4 at one end and a discharge opening 5 at the other, and the grains are transferred inside this cylinder 3 as they are sorted, while the rejected rice grains exclusive of fine grains, are transferred at the lower part of the cylinder 3 in an opposite direction to the movement of the grains inside the cylinder 3, several kinds of grains of different quality can be separated by provision of several discharge openings in the track of movement of the reject rice.

2. By virtue of provision of plural polygonal cylinders 3, not only the operational efficiency can be improved, but the operating cost can be reduced, by providing an inclined flow plate 9 towards the lower part of said cylinders.

3. While several cylinders 3 are provided, wing plates 7 of soft material are provided on top and at the intermediate position of said cylinders, so that each one wing plate 7 can be installed per two cylinders.

What is claimed is:

l. A rotary and flow type grain sorter comprising:

a housing;

at least one polygonal cylinder rotably mounted within said housing;

supply means for supplying the grain to one end of said cylinder; and

discharge means for receiving the sorted grain at the other end of said cylinder;

wherein said polygonal cylinder is formed of a corrugated perforated plate having ridges and grooves therein and having sorting openings at the bottom of the grooves thereof, as viewed from within said cylinder and wherein each line of grooves on each side of said polygonal cylinder has at least two of said sorting openings therein.

2. A rotary and flow type grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 wherein said grooves and ridges run substantially in planes perpendicular to the axis of said cylinder.

3. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 further including receiving means for receiving the reject grain passing through said sorting openings.

4. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 3, wherein said receiving means comprises an inclined flow plate mounted below said polygonal cylinder, a grooved portion at the bottom of said flow plate, a screw conveyer axially mounted on the grooved portion of said flow plate, said grooved portion having a plurality of through-holes at fixed intervals, and a discharge opening for the reject grain at the end of said screw conveyer whereby grain of varying sizes can be removed through said through-holes.

5. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 4, in which the screw conveyor is so designed as to transfer the grains towards the supply end of the polygonal cylinders.

6. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 4 further including valve means mounted at said through-holes for opening and closing said through-holes as desired.

7. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 further including cleaning means mounted on said housing for contacting said cylinders and keeping said sorting openings from becoming obstructed.

8. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 7 wherein said cleaning means comprises a wing plate made of flexible material.

9. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 8 wherein there are a plurality of said polygonal cylinders each arranged in parallel to one another and wherein each said wing plate is arranged so as to contact two adjacent polygonal cylinders.

10. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 1 in which said cylinder or cylinders are removably mounted on said housing. 

1. A rotary and flow type grain sorter comprising: a housing; at least one polygonal cylinder rotably mounted within said housing; supply means for supplying the grain to one end of said cylinder; and discharge means for receiving the sorted grain at the other end of said cylinder; wherein said polygonal cylinder is formed of a corrugated perforated plate having ridges and grooves therein and having sorting openings at the bottom of the grooves thereof, as viewed from within said cylinder and wherein each line of grooves on each side of said polygonal cylinder has at least two of said sorting openings therein.
 2. A rotary and flow type grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 wherein said grooves and ridges run substantially in planes perpendicular to the axis of said cylinder.
 3. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 further including receiving means for receiving the reject grain passing through said sorting openings.
 4. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 3, wherein said receiving means comprises an inclined flow plate mounted below said polygonal cylinder, a grooved portion at the bottom of said flow plate, a screw conveyer axially mounted on the grooved portion of said flow plate, said grooved portion having a plurality of through-holes at fixed intervals, and a discharge opening for the reject grain at the end of said screw conveyer whereby grain of varying sizes can be removed through said through-holes.
 5. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 4, in which the screw conveyor is so designed as to transfer the grains towards the supply end of the polygonal cylinders.
 6. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 4 further including valve means mounted at said through-holes for opening and closing said through-holes as desired.
 7. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 1 further including cleaning means mounted on said housing for contacting said cylinders and keeping said sorting openings from becoming obstructed.
 8. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 7 wherein said cleaning means comprises a wing plate made of flexible material.
 9. A grain sorter in accordance with claim 8 wherein there are a plurality of said polygonal cylinders each arranged in parallel to one another and wherein each said wing plate is arranged so as to contact two adjacent polygonal cylinders.
 10. A grain sorter as claimed in claim 1 in which said cylinder or cylinders are removably mounted on said housing. 